Hinge.



T. G. RIORDAN.

HINGE.

APPLIGATION FILED FnB.e,19oa.

943,997. Patented Dec. 21, 1909.

'UNITE Eli TIMOTHY G. RIORDAN, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HINGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 21, 1909.

Application led February 6, 1909. Serial No. 476,445.

To all whom it ynie/y concern:

Be it known that I, TiMo'ri-LY Gr. Brosnan', a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Iliiprovement in Hinges, and declarethe following to be a. full, clear, and exact description of the same,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same, reference being had 'to the accompanyingdrawings, which form a part of this specification.

. It is often desirable to attach lids or covers of receptacles by meansof hinges which will support them in a partly raised position when swungback to uncover the receptacles. Itis evident that in such anarrangement a considerable strain comes upon the hinges and particularlyupon the fastenings between the receptacle and the members of the hingesattached thereto; the strain on these fastenings being in such directionthat there is a strong tendency to pull the fastenings out. Unless thewall of the receptacle to which the hinges are secured is very strong,then,even if the fastening devices are powerful enough to withstand thestrain imposed upon them, the wall is apt to give way. Hinges of thiskind are particularly useful in suitcases, making it possible for thelid to remain substantially upright when it is raised to open the case;but, by reason of the peculiar construction of suitcases in order tosecure lightness the walls thereof are poorly adapted to withstand thetearing strain upon the fastenings for the hinges.

rIhe object of my invention is to vprovide a simple and novel reinforcedhinge for supporting a lid or cover in a partially opened positionwithout imposing upon the hinge fastenings a strain tending to pull thefastenings out of place.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; myinvention and of its object and advantages, reference may be had to thefollowing detailed description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing, wherein:

Figure l is an end view of a suitcase equipped with my improved hinges,the lid being shown in its normal position when open; Fig. 2 is a viewon an enlarged scale of a fragment of the case, showing a portion but,for a full understanding of of the lid and one of the improved hinges inposition; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3--3 of Fig'. 2; Fig. 4 is aperspective view showing one of the elements of my improved hinge; Figs.5 and 6 are frontviews of two modified forms of hinges; and Fig. 7 is anend view of one of the elements shown in Fig. G.

Although I have illustrated my invention as embodied in hinges forsuitcases, since this is one of the fields to which my invention isparticularly applicable, I do not desire to be limited to thisparticular use for it will, of course, be understood that my inventionmay be used to advantage for connecting any two relatively movablemembers which it is desired to hinge together. For the sake -of brevity,however, I shall hereafter refer to the two relatively movable memberswhich are'hinged together as a. suitcase and its lid.

Referring to the drawing, A represents a suitcase having a lid or coverB.

C is one of the hinges connecting the lid to the case. In accordancewith my invention I so construct the hinge or hinges that when the lidis swung open it stands approximately upright, being supported in thislposition by the hinge or hinges or parts associated therewith. Thehinges themselves may take any desired form, 'that illustratedcomprising simply two members D and E connected together by means of apintle F. The member D is secured to the lid and the member E to therear wall a of the body of the case. Any suitable fastening means, suchas rivets Gr, may be employed.

It will be seen from Fig. 1 that if one of the hinge members wereprovided with a shoulder' upon which the other member could rest whenthe lid is open the tendency would be to tear the lower hinge memberaway from the body of the case and this tendency would be very greatbecause the center of gravity of the lid must naturally be at a point ata considerable distance in rear of the case in order that the lid may bestable in its raised position. In accordance with my invention means areprovided whereby this tearing strain upon the hinge fastenings istransferred to some part which is or can readily be made to be welladapted to withstand such strain without being affected thereby. To thisend I have provided a clip II which has a hook /L at one end partiallysurrounding the joint of the hinge. The other end of the clip mayconveniently be bent around the upper edge of the wall to which themember of the hinge E is attached. It will be seen that the extreme endof the hook affords a shoulder upon which t-he hinge member D or theportion of the lid immediately adjacent thereto may rest when the lid isswung open. The hook may therefore be given any desired length,depending upon the angle at which it is desired to support the lid whenopen. IVhen the lid is open it will be seen that it acts upon theextreme end /ig of the hook as a fulcrum and tends to lift the lower'member of the hinge in a direction parallel to the wall to which it isattached. There are consequently only two active forces, namely adownward pressure upon the hook which is taken care of by the clip andan upward pull on the lower hinge member; the transverse pull tending totear the lower hinge member out of place being entirely lacking.

The clip may conveniently be made of a tlat strip of metal which isinserted through a slot e cut in the body of the hinge member Eimmediately adjacent to the pivotal connection. rI`he body of the clipis made no wider than the tongue member d of the hinge D which is bentabout the pintle F. The hook L is preferably made wider than the shankso that it will extend not only under the member CZ but also under thecorresponding members el which project from the member E and are bentaround the pintle. In order to increase the strength and the rigidity ofthe hinge the member E of the hinge may be provided with an outturnedlip e2 which bears against the underside of the hook /t as indicated inFigs. 2 and 3. By this arrangement, when the lid is open, there will bea downward pressure upon the member /i and an upward pull upon themember E; but, because of the engagement of the lip c2 with theunderside of the member it it will be impossible for the lower hingemember to be carried upwardly without carrying the member /L with it:Consequently the weight of the lid which comes upon the member /i'actsas a positive force to hold the lower hinge member in its normalposition and substantially the whole strain comes upon the clip insteadoit' upon the hinge fastenings or the portions of the wall of the casesurrounding the astenings.

Since it is common to provide strong iron or steel frames about the topedges of suitcases as indicated at I in Fig. 3 it will be seen that avery satisfactory support for the clip is usually at hand so that it isunnecessary to remodel a suitcase in order to equip it with hingesarranged in accordance with my invention. Moreover, since hingesarranged in accordance with my invention need diier from other hingesonly in that they show the additional feature of the de-` tachable clipany hinge may be remodeled by simply cutting therein a slotcorresponding to the slot e and inserting therethrough a clip otsuitable shape and form.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated the same hinge asin Figs. l to Je exceptthat the lip ci is omitted.

In Figs. G and 7 I have illustrated a hinge havingr associated therewitha somewhat modilied form of clip. The shank Hl of the clip is of thesame width as the hook /L and is connected to the hook by means of acontracted neck 7L?. The neck is of the same width as the shank in theother form-that isitis no wider than the tongue l on the hinge memberI). The clip may, therefore, be added to the hinge without weakeningeither member for the member E must be cut away sutliciently at itscenter to receive the tongue Z on the other member and the addition tothe clip simply makes the cut away portion somewhat longer withoutreducing the effective cross section of metal. The clip shown in thefirst five figures has the advantage that it may be inserted and removedwithout taking the hinge apart. The clip shown in Figs. G' and 7 makesit necessary to remove the pintle and separate the two hinge memberswhenever it is desired to putin the clip or take it out.

lhile I have shown the hinge member E as provided with two tongues andthe member D with a single tongue it is, of course, understood thatthese conditions may be reversed-and, in fact, any desired form ofpivotal connection between the two hinge members may be employed.

IfVhile I have described in detail only preferred forms of my inventionand have illustrated only a single example of its use, I do not desireto be limited except to the extent indicated by the terms employed inthe definitions ot' my invention constituting the appended claims.

Having now fully described my inventio-n what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In combination, a wall, a swinging member, a hinge connecting saidmember to said wall and a clip connected to said wall and extending inthe opposite direction from the axis of the hingefffrom' that in whichthe member of the' hinge secured to the wall extends, said clip having ashoulder near its inner end in position to be engaged by and supportsaid swinging member at one end of its swinging movement.

2. In combination, a wall, a swinging member, a hinge connecting saidmember to said wall, anda clip connected to :said wall and extending inthe opposite direction from the axis of the hinge from that in which themember of the hinge secured to the wall exL tends, said clip having aproj ection near its inner end in position 'to lie between the twomembers of the hinge so as tofsu'pport the a predetermined distance ofeach other in their relative angular movement towardl each other.

Ll. In a hinge, a pair ot pivotally conl nected members, a clip lyingbehind one of said members and having a projection extending in front ofboth of said members in position to be clamped between them when theyapproach to within a predetermined distance of each other in theirrelative angular movement toward each other.

5. In a hinge, a pair ot' pivotally-coniiected members, a clip lyingbehind one of said members, the other member having an openingtherethrough, and said clip having a hook extending through said openingfrom behind the hinge and surrounding the joint between said members,the end of said hook lying in position to engage with and support themember behind which the clip lies when said members are at the limit oftheir relative movement.

6. In a hinge, a pair ot' pivotally-coniieeted members, a clip lyingbehind one of said members the other member having an openingtherethrough and said clip having a hook extending through said openingand .surrounding the joint between said members, the end of said hooklying in position to engage with and support the member behind which theclip lies'when said members are at the limit of their relative movement,said hook being wider than said opening so as to engage with portions otthe hinge surrounding the opening.

7. In a hinge, a pair of pivotally-coiinected members, a clip lyingbehind one of said members, the other member having an openingtherethrough, and said clip having a hook extending through said openingfrom behind the hinge and surrounding the joint between said members,the end ot said hook lying in trontoitl the hinge in position to engagewith and support the member behind which the clip lies when said membersare at the limit of their relative movement, the member through whichsaid hook passes being provided with a shoulder engaging said hook andholding it against said joint.

8. In combination, a wall, a hinge one member ot which is secured tosaid wall a short distance below the upper edge thereof, a clip bentaround the upper edge of said wall and lying behind the other member ofsaid hinge, said clip having a projection exf tending in front of thelatter member of the hinge in position to engage therewith and suppoitit when swinging away from said wall, and a swinging wall carried bysaid latter member.

E). In combination, a wall, a hinge one member of which is secured tosaid wall, and a clip extending from said member and bent over the edgeot' the wall on the side of said member upon which the knuckle islocated, and a swinging wall carried by the other member of the hinge.

10. In combination, a wall, a hinge one member of which is secured tosaid wall so as to position the knuckle end nearest to and a shortdistance from one edge of said wall, a clip extending from said memberand bent over said edge, and a swinging wall carried by the other memberof the hinge.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

TIMOTHY G. RIORDAN.

IVitnesses IVM. I". Fmiuimmmioii, HARRY S. Ghirri-IER.

